Dawn Castillo

The Dynamic Trio

by dawncastillo

You may or may not know, but I’m obsessed with Honey Girl Organics! In fact, Honey Girl is my go-to brand for all things skincare. A few month ago, they sent me their stick trio, and I instantly fell in love. Their stick trio have been a real game-changer for me, and I just love how it makes my skin feel ❤ The set...

December 20, 2017

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Beauty
My 2017 Recap

by dawncastillo

Can you believe that 2018 is only 25 days away!? I can’t help but feel eternally grateful for all the beautiful memories I’ve made this year. I feel so blessed to have been able to share my journey with my online fam, so thank you for following along. Let’s rewind and revisit some of the highlights of 2017…. let’s do this! HIGHLIGHTS: 1. My...

December 7, 2017

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Lifestyle
My Skincare Routine | Beauty

by dawncastillo

Looking to kiss your old skin care products goodbye and say hello to radiant looking skin? Then you’ve come to the right place! I started using Honey Girl about three years ago. Funny story, I came across their products because my mom was using their eye cream and facial toner as her skincare routine. I got a little curious and started using it myself....

August 3, 2017

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Beauty
6 Personal Questions with Matt | Relationships

by dawncastillo

For the longest time, people have requested from me to start sharing more of my relationship with Matt on my blog. We’ll be celebrating 6 years this July, so what better way than to ask him “6 personal questions.” So…. without further ado, here’s Matt’s FIRST guest blog post. Let’s do this. What’s the most annoying thing about Dawn? 1) That’s a hard question…there’s...

June 29, 2017

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Uncategorized
How I Got Rhabdomyolysis

by dawncastillo

On May 29th, my boyfriend, his dad, and a few close friends decided we would do a workout at Crossfit Studio City. The WOD (Work Out of the Day) was dedicated to Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. In remembrance of Lieutenant Murphy, the Crossfit community gets together every Memorial Day and completes one...

June 10, 2017

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Uncategorized

Let The Wedding Planning Begin.

Happy Wednesday, It’s been a while since I’ve written something on here! I always forget how much I really enjoy coming on this platform to connect with you guys at a much deeper level. Anyone else feel that way about blogs? As you may know, Matt and I just started planning our wedding. I personally feel like we’re behind on this whole process but I’m glad we’ve taken the time to really sit and think about what we wanted. For starters, Matt and I found our dream venue last Friday! It’s not your traditional venue but we are so happy with it because it has everything we need. It’s a beautiful home located in Thousand Oaks in a very secluded area which is ideal for a wedding. The backyard is spacious and has plenty of room for tables, chairs, a dance floor, DJ, and not to mention space for a bartender and a catering company. Why did you pick a house instead of a banquet hall? When we were shopping around for a venue...

FroYo Fruit Bites – Summer Treats

by dawncastillo

Happy Tuesday, Today’s blog post is a simple one! These froyo fruit bites will have you wanting more all summer long. Here’s what you’ll need: PREP: 1. Muffin & pastry pan 2. Cup liners 3. Fruit (your favorite summer fruit ) 4. 2 1/2 Greek Yogurt (your favorite yogurt ) 5. 2 cups Granola 6. 4 tablespoons Honey 7. 4 tablespoons Peanut Butter Directions: Place cup liners inside pan and use cooking spray so ingredients won’t stick. Next, grab a bowl and mix the granola, peanut butter and honey together. Use a spoon to scoop the mixture and place inside the cup liners. Once the base is filled with the granola mixture, use a clean spoon to fill half of the liner with your choice of yogurt. After, dice up fruit into small pieces and lay on top of yogurt. Place in freezer for 30 mins before serving. Easy as that! Let me know what you guys think 😉 Enjoy -Dawn

Florence | Travel Diary

by dawncastillo

Hello and welcome back to another travel diary! Today, I’m going to break down the beautiful city of Florence. This city happens to be my favorite and holds a very special place in my heart! So where did we leave off? That’s right, Rome! After visiting Vatican City we hoped on our coach for a 2 1/2 hour ride to Florence! After we arrived at our hotel, we had time to settle in for a couple of hours. Day 3: Florence Our first night in Florence was one to remember! We went into the city for some dinner and a some karaoke! Our Contiki group was having a blast, singing and dancing the night away. By the time the clock struck midnight, Matt suggested we head back to our hotel! He said he wanted to get up early to watch the sunrise. I was a little sad to leave our fun karaoke night BUT I had an even bigger surprise coming my way. Day 4: Florence (A Day to Remember) Matt and I had...

Italy Trip | Rome

by dawncastillo

Hello, It’s been a full week since I’ve gotten back from my Italy trip, and let’s say its been hard to adjust! Many wonderful things happen in Italy including, getting engaged to my soon-to-be HUSBAND! In this blog post, I wanted to go over in more detail all the great activities that Contiki put together for us. I’ll be breaking down each city into separate post and go more into detail about each place. Let’s get started!!!! Matt and I have always booked and planned our own trips from start to finish. When the time came to plan our next trip, we decided to book through Contiki, a travel agency for 18-35 years old. The thought of sitting back and relaxing while letting someone else do the planning seemed like a nice change of pace for once. Contiki for the WIN!!!! Contiki made it easy to book our flight and hotel stay through them. They had a variety of destinations to pick from which made it hard because every place looked so beautiful. In...

So, you want to blog!?

by dawncastillo

Hey Ladies and Gents! Welcome back to another exciting blog topic. As you know, I’ve been blogging for four years already. I’ve experienced a ton of ups and downs in this industry but the one thing that’s always remained constant is my love for blogging and creating content for you all. My first two years of blogging was a time when I was still discovering what I wanted to talk about. Originally, I started blogging about traveling, cooking and a little bit of beauty! I’ll admit, I was kinda all over the place but it helped me figure out what I wanted to talk about. By the third and fourth year of blogging, I had learned so much already. I’m now, learning how to pitch myself to brands and collaborating with them. I also got more comfortable in reaching out to other bloggers! I’m hosting my first “blogger brunch” in two weeks ❤ There’s more to blogging than meets the eye and throughout my experience, I feel like I’ve learned enough to share with...

Five Things To Do This Valentine’s Day!

by dawncastillo

Hello Fam! I have to take a moment and say, “OMG, it’s been forever”! It’s honestly been way too long since I’ve last posted. Can’t wait to dive right in and continue this blogging journey again with a cute blog post that I put together for you all. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I wanted to list 5 things you and your significant other can do this Thursday! Let’s do this: Ice Skating: Don’t you remember the days when you were a kid and enjoyed ice-skating with friends or that special someone? This is probably the cutest thing you can do this Thursday! Get into your cozy clothes and head over to your nearby ice-skating rink. Let loose and enjoy being a kid for a day! Scavenger Hunt: By far the most thoughtful idea yet. Quick story: Matt did this for me like four years ago. He left little notes all over the house and places where he and I would hang out. I still have all the notes and the photo album...

The Secret is Out | My South Beach Journey

by dawncastillo

The secret is out, and it feels so good to finally open up and share my weight-loss story with you all!!! About a year ago a long time friend of mine mentioned a great opportunity that might be of interest to me. The agency she was working for was looking for candidates for an upcoming weight-loss program. She recommended that I submit my story and photos to the agency as soon as possible due to the amount of interest these types weight loss programs generate. I quickly gathered some pictures and composed the letter that would change my life forever! Five days after submitting my story, I received an email from Paige (agent) telling me that I had been pre-selected for the program- YAY! She then scheduled an interview – more like an audition – where the agent asked a number of questions while being recorded on camera- yikes! I’d be lying if I said, I wasn’t nervous. When the day to interview finally arrived, I remembered being excited yet nervous while on the...

What’s Inside My BirchBox ! |Review

by dawncastillo

Who on here is a BirchBox user? This is my second #BirchBox and my very first review on their service. I’m super excited to share my thoughts on this subscription box because I know so many of you are curious about it. I had seen BirchBox’s advertisement on T.V for months and then finally one day, I said to myself, ” I need a subscription box! That way I can try new products out before buying them and see if I like them or not.” I immediately thought of BirchBox and that same night I went online and signed up. Can you believe that for just $10 a month you can score name brand products – small but still – and test them out! As a blogger, this helps eliminate a lot of the guessing game. Will I like this product? Is it worth the investment? As I’m sure you know already, buying makeup, hair and skin products can get expensive very quickly. With BirchBox, I was able to customize my product preferences and...

Men’s Watches – A Unique Valentine’s Day Gift

by dawncastillo

When you’ve been in a committed relationship for the past six years like Matthew, and I have been, finding the perfect gift can get a little tricky. We’re the type of couple that loves surprising one another and going all out for special occasions. I wouldn’t exactly call ourselves the adventurous type, but we do enjoy a good surprise. Whether it’s a surprised cooked meal, mini road trips to San Francisco, Friday date nights or cute scavenger hunt at the park; we are all about showing our love for one another. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I knew I wanted to give Matthew a personalized gift that was thoughtful, yet giving him something he could wear and use every day. When JORD Wood Watches reached out to me about their Valentine’s Day Campaign, I knew I had to get on board. JORD offers a variety of stylish wooden watches for both men and women. With their custom wood watch engraving, you can make any occasion memorable for years to come. I chose...

3 ways to Kick your New Year’s Resolutions into High Gear!

by dawncastillo

It’s the New Year which means new goals, hopes, and dreams. I hope that by this time you’ve already been working some of them.! If not there’s no need to panic there’s still plenty of time to get back on track. Today, I wanted to share three easy ways to help kick your New Year’s Resolutions into high gear. Let’s get started. 1. Set goals that are simple and realistic! How many times have we set high expectations and goals for ourselves and fail to follow through or lose motivation? The answer is probably….. always ! It’s great to have high expectations but take each goal one step at a time. For example, one of my personal goals this year is to read one book per month. I set a ” realistic ” goal because I knew if I said I wanted to read two books each month, it probably wouldn’t happen.. and this is just me being honest with myself. Instead, I set a goal (aka, a simple goal) that I knew I...